Michael Totten catches Juan Cole engaged in his favorite past-time- blaming the Jews. Juan Cole’s quote:
The Iraqi killer of Reserve Navy Lt. Kylan Jones-Huffman has been brought to justice in an Iraqi court. Although he has since changed his story, he at one point admitted to killing Jones-Huffman with a bullet through the back of the neck while the latter was stuck in traffic in downtown Hilla. The assassin said that he felt that Jones-Huffman “looked Jewish.” The fruits of hatred sowed in the Middle East by aggressive and expansionist Israeli policies in the West Bank and Gaza against the Palestinians and in south Lebanon against Shiites continue to be harvested by Americans.
Totten has it right, in far fewer words:
An American was murdered by an Iraqi because he “looked Jewish” and Professor Juan Cole (perhaps the most over-rated blogger in the world) blames, wait for it, Israel!
I wish I could take some pleasure in saying ‘I told ya so,’ but I can’t. Remember in April, when we had several security guards murdered and their bodies burned and hung from bridges? Juan Cole knew who to blame then, too:
There is increasing evidence that the brutal attack on the American security guards in Fallujah, and the desecration of their bodies, was the work of Islamists seeking vengeance for the Israeli murder of Hamas leader Sheikh Ahmed Yassin. Leaflets found at the scene said the operation was in the name of Yassin. al-Hayat reports in its Friday edition that responsibility for the attack has been taken by a group called Phalanges of Sheikh Ahmed Yassin. The group said the deaths were a “gift to the Palestinian people.”
You put yourself in the shoes of an American military commander in Fallujah. He treats with the local clan leaders and Sunni clergy. He tries to get them on the side of the US. He faces hostility, but he is making some progress. And then Ariel Sharon sends US-made helicopter gunships to Gaza and has them fire missiles at people coming out of a mosque, killing 8 and wounding 24. One of the dead is a half-blind paraplegic Islamist named Sheikh Yassin. He could have easily been arrested, and had been in the 1990s. But he was incinerated in a piece of state terror instead. And all of a sudden the people of Fallujah in Iraq are pointing their fingers at the American troops and saying, ‘you did this. You gave Sharon the green light.’ And all the commander’s hard work in building bridges collapses over night. And four US security personnel are dead, and 5 US troops are dead, and the fighting flares up. Thanks, Prime Minister Sharon. Thank you very much.
You got it- the people responsible for the murders by Islamists in Fallujah were none other than Ariel Sharon and Israel.
Kimmitt
Yes, you’ve got it — because Ariel Sharon and Israel are angels descended to Earth, good in all ways and incapable of sin, we should not seek to judge their actions by their results, but instead by the intentions, which are as pure as the driven snow and questioned only by the anti-Semitic (who probably hate God anyway).
For the Party of personal responsibility, you lot are awfully good at pretending that no one should be held accountable for the likely results of their actions.
Mikey
Kimmit – It’s not whether any Jew or Israeli is without sin. The point that is being made is that the Jews are blamed for everything that goes wrong in the middle east. That’s called ducking responsibility. It’s called scapegoating. You live in a tyranny? Blame the Jews. Lights go out? Blame the Jews. Stub your toe? Blame the Jews. Blame the Jews. Blame the Jews.
It’s insane, it’s wrong and it’s frightening, because you can interchange “Jew” with any other group. Try “Muslim” or “Christian” or “Republican” or “American.”
Slartibartfast
A strawman of that size is truly a fire hazard, Kimmitt. I’m reminded of a classic scene in Ghostbusters…
CadillaqJaq
Blame the Jews? Probably not… better to blame the Brits who in 1917 with their Balfour Declaration started the process to create a homeland for the Jews by partitioning the Palestine REGION, a small part of what is now Jordan in order to keep it away from France. If that doesn’t suit you, blame the United Nations of 1948 for the actual partitioning.
But forgetting any inconvenient history, it is more chic to blame the Jews of today. Much like RWReagan was at fault for most everything bad that happened a generation ago as Bush-43 is at fault for all bad happenings today.
The liberals are adept at simplification: merely cast the blame at those with whom you disagree.
Dean
Kimmitt:
You threw that strawman up at Totten’s, too.
No one is saying that the US and Israel are without sin. All we’re saying is that OTHER NATIONS AREN’T WITHOUT SIN EITHER.
Take the recent controversy about the Palestinian with the violin. Leaving aside the outstanding questions about what precisely happened, many people were troubled by reports that Israelis made this guy take out his violin and play it (to show it was not wired as a bomb). This, despite the fact that a Palestinian bomber had used a guitar to blow up a bunch of Israelis.
AT THE SAME TIME, no ire ever seems to be aroused by, say, Syrian troops manning checkpoints in Lebanon (w/, one suspects, far fewer attention to world sensibilities). Or Palestinians (the armed wing, no less) blowing up a checkpoint by tunneling underneath.
Thus, on the one hand, we have the Israelis (whose action, in the worst interpretation, was insensitive even if necessary), and on the other, in the same neighborhood, we have Arabs. Why does one garner so much more criticism?
Kimmitt
The point that is being made is that the Jews are blamed for everything that goes wrong in the middle east.
Not “The Jews.” Specific policy actions by the state of Israel.
All we’re saying is that OTHER NATIONS AREN’T WITHOUT SIN EITHER.
No. What you are saying is that the policymakers for the State of Israel should not be held responsible for the logical consequences of their policy decisions. The only way this could make sense is if their decisions were so obviously and patently correct that we have no grounds for criticism.
AT THE SAME TIME, no ire ever seems to be aroused by, say, Syrian troops manning checkpoints in Lebanon
We aren’t sending $4 billion a year to Syria to man those checkpoints, and we list Syria as an official state sponsor of terror. Our government is doing its job with regard to Syria, so there is no reason for ire. Syria is run by bad people. You know this, I know this, and the US is responding appropriately. There isn’t much else to say at that point.
Mikey
I’m sure that its not put as specific policy actions by the State of Israel, rather it is the Jews. (i.e. the whole “sons of pigs and monkeys” thing that you read about).
Of course, its also the fault of other nations that things are screwed up in the middle east. The Palestinians own actions are the reason for much of their own misery. Can’t mention that, though, because it’s the Israelis who are at fault.
Same old, same old. The Israelis try not to get slaughtered and fight a defensive war, it’s their fault. All the misery is due to the actions of the Israelis, never the self-inflicted actions of the other middle east nations.
Sorry, Kimmit. I’ll back a democracy anytime over the pathetic collection of oligarchys, monarchys, theocracys, and plain old thugocracys that constitute the standard of government in the middle east.
Kimmitt
I’m sure that its not put as specific policy actions by the State of Israel, rather it is the Jews. (i.e. the whole “sons of pigs and monkeys” thing that you read about).
No, the post is very specifically about how Israeli domestic and foreign policy and US sponsorship thereof is the cause of a problem. I hardly agree with everything Professor Cole says, but in this case he is extremely clear. He references a specific policy as part and parcel of a specific set of policies. This is about the consequences of bad and immoral policy. Period.
Sorry, Kimmit. I’ll back a democracy anytime over the pathetic collection of …
Again, Israeli politicians should not be held responsible for the consequences of their policies because Israel is a democratic country. I get it. I really do.
Ricky
The problem is folks like you & Juan Cole are declaring what the “consequences of their policies” are.
You know, like when a teenage palestinian decides to blow up a pizza joint on a Thursday night, it’s the “consequences” of those dastardly policies.
Interestinly enough, Kimmitt, the US government doesn’t back your rhetoric while Al Jazeera, Syria, the PLO and Al Qaeda nearly mimic your utterances with news release.
That should tell you something.